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trinityofoneA story I almost forgot to tell: a week ago I accompanied ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spazatron to see a production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman!, which is, yes, a musical about Superman. It was at a theater at UCLA, and it was one of those fabulously weird L.A. events, where before the show we got to see Mrs. Partridge having a nice chat with the Mayor of Sunnydale in the lobby. But once we got into the theater and I received my program, I discovered something...disturbing.
The actor portraying the bad guy in this musical? Richard frickin' Kind.
*wails* OMG LUCIUS STOP FOLLOWING ME!
Not to mention singing at me! About how you've never won a Nobel Prize! Assiriaeve said, it's like you ran out of mission reports and started raiding Rodney's personal stash of nightmares! It's freaking me out!
*whimpers*
Anyway, Superman eventually defeated him, and thus made him stop talking. (And singing! *shudder*) All together now: THANK YOU, SUPERMAN!
Which brings me to the following, which I happened to have recently grabbed from the library and decided now deserved my attention...
Week 20: 14-20 May
111. It's Superman!, Tom De Haven — I didn't really know what to expect with this novel; I'm not particularly interested in Superman and I'm actually rather suspicious of novels based on others' works (which is rather bizarre for a fanfic writer, I must say). I guess I was sucked in by the fantastic Chris Ware cover. And hey, for once judging a book by its cover turned out to be a good thing: It's Superman! is immensely enjoyable, sweeping, and highly visual even without the aid of comic illustrations. De Haven reexamines Superman's origin story, bringing the setting back to the era of the character's creation, the 1930s and the Great Depression. Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor are all compellingly presented, and seem like real people—Clark's self-doubt does a lot to make Superman more interesting, and more human. (No offense to the people of Krypton intended.) De Haven's OCs (oh, and now watch me slip into fanfic parlance) are fun and interesting too. The book is a good 425 pages long and when I reached the end all I wanted was for it to keep going. It had only just started to get gay! ;-)
112. At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances, Alexander McCall Smith — Third in the Portuguese Irregular Verbs trilogy, which I finished mostly out of stubbornness. I liked this final volume better than the second—the trip to Cambridge included some amusing observations about the English—but it was still rather blah. All in all, the whole series could be said to be slight in length and even slighter in content.
113. There Will Never Be Another You, Carolyn See — I'm always eager to read books about L.A., but they almost always disappoint me. (None of them really capture my L.A.—though oddly, I feel that Raymond Chandler's world occasionally intersects with mine. Also, the movie Blade Runner.) See's latest novel unfortunately continued the trend. It takes place is a universe that's supposed to be only slightly different from ours, in which national security after 9/11 has been amped up even more than it really was. Unfortunately, the difference feels if anything too slight—I'm not sure I would have realized it was an AU at all if I hadn't been told by the cover copy. None of the rest of the novel really comes together, either; it follows several interconnected characters, all of whom have reason to spend time at the UCLA medical center. Edith is a hospital volunteer whose husband died of a prolonged illness the day before the World Trade Center attacks; her son Phil is a dermatologist; Andrea and OmgGuyWhoseNameI'veAlreadyForgotten both have family members who are ill. All of these characters are fairly unpleasant, and they all resolve their worries about family and death in ways that feel oddly unrealistic. I finished this novel feeling like I must have missed something, but I talked to my mom about it this weekend, and though she loves See's Golden Days, she felt much the same way. Okay, so back to my original assessment: This doesn't really work. Wherever it was going, it didn't get there.
114. Cotton, Christopher Wilson — The short 'n' sweet description of this book that I've seen favored by various web sites, etc., is "The story of Lee Cotton, who starts life as a black boy and ends it as a white woman." Besides pretty much begging for several bad Michael Jackson jokes to be made, this summary isn't quite accurate; there is rather a lot of culture and genderswapping (bwee!) in this book, but it's all more complicated than a single sentence summary can convey. Which is great—hurrah for not making it easy, which Wilson certainly doesn't. Lee has to struggle with each transformation, and there is lots of interesting stuff about identity, as well as some fun explorations of '50s, '60s, and '70s America. However, there are also about 50,000 loose threads left dangling at the book's end, with the last few chapters choosing to add more bwah?-worthy material rather than wrap up what was already on the table. (That's kind of a mixed metaphor—unless you consider that the threads are what's being used to wrap the overall package of the plot—which is spread out on the table! Yes. *nods vigorously and unconvincingly*) So ANYWAY—while individual sections of this novel are quite compelling and enjoyable wacky, it really fails to come together.
115. Small World, David Lodge — Sequel to Changing Places, this book follows the same characters—and many, many more—as they travel the world for a series of academic conferences. There is much amusement to be had in tracking the ways the various characters meet up (and often, hook up), and the whole thing is zany and hilarious and lots of fun, if a little less satisfying than Places. Note: the cover of the 1984 British Penguin edition has an illustration of a bare-breasted woman bound by chains to the 'W' in World; this will make you incredibly popular with strange men who sit down next to you on the bus.
116. The Transitive Vampire, Karen Elizabeth Gordon — Gothic-themed grammar guide, read in preparation for the copy test I have to take later today. *gulp* The sample sentences in this book are certainly more diverting than the ones you were likely to have studied in school (for the five minutes the teacher bothered with grammar, if your schooling was anything like mine). For example, demonstrating subject-verb agreement, Gordon gives us: "Gawking out of the corner of his eye was a man who adored stevedores. Beneath the honeysuckle were the caresses he had longed for being given to another man." Fun! However, I'm not sure how this book or any other I have read has really helped me with my grammar. Now, this very well may be a problem of mine, but for someone who has (I like to think) a fairly good grasp of the English language, I have never been able to get much use out of this type of book. They either seem to say things that are incredibly obvious ("I can't hardly stand spinach" = a bad sentence), needlessly confusing ("this is known as a past present participle hatchback gerund—with or without a twist"), or just plain bullheaded WRONG ("no sentence fragments! EVER! And don't start sentences with 'and' or 'but'! ...Ooops."). Do I have trouble actually getting anything from grammar guides because in America the bare bones of proper grammar are actually taught so long after the language has actually been learned? I feel like I've picked up most of everything I know by doing, by actually writing and reading; it's all incredibly instinctive. I don't think this makes me any less of a writer; in fact, writers are almost supposed to do crazy shit that their editors can later correct. (Of course, in my little fantasy here, my editor is Max Perkins.) However, as someone who kind of needs to make a living editing other people for a while, the fact that I don't actually know the rules (I'm just instinctively aware of them) makes me very, very nervous. Which I guess makes The Transitive Vampire an appropriate (if not especially reassuring) guide; its subtitle is A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. Yup, that's me! *whimpers*
Total Books: 116
spazatron to see a production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman!, which is, yes, a musical about Superman. It was at a theater at UCLA, and it was one of those fabulously weird L.A. events, where before the show we got to see Mrs. Partridge having a nice chat with the Mayor of Sunnydale in the lobby. But once we got into the theater and I received my program, I discovered something...disturbing.The actor portraying the bad guy in this musical? Richard frickin' Kind.
*wails* OMG LUCIUS STOP FOLLOWING ME!
Not to mention singing at me! About how you've never won a Nobel Prize! As
siriaeve said, it's like you ran out of mission reports and started raiding Rodney's personal stash of nightmares! It's freaking me out!*whimpers*
Anyway, Superman eventually defeated him, and thus made him stop talking. (And singing! *shudder*) All together now: THANK YOU, SUPERMAN!
Which brings me to the following, which I happened to have recently grabbed from the library and decided now deserved my attention...
Week 20: 14-20 May
111. It's Superman!, Tom De Haven — I didn't really know what to expect with this novel; I'm not particularly interested in Superman and I'm actually rather suspicious of novels based on others' works (which is rather bizarre for a fanfic writer, I must say). I guess I was sucked in by the fantastic Chris Ware cover. And hey, for once judging a book by its cover turned out to be a good thing: It's Superman! is immensely enjoyable, sweeping, and highly visual even without the aid of comic illustrations. De Haven reexamines Superman's origin story, bringing the setting back to the era of the character's creation, the 1930s and the Great Depression. Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor are all compellingly presented, and seem like real people—Clark's self-doubt does a lot to make Superman more interesting, and more human. (No offense to the people of Krypton intended.) De Haven's OCs (oh, and now watch me slip into fanfic parlance) are fun and interesting too. The book is a good 425 pages long and when I reached the end all I wanted was for it to keep going. It had only just started to get gay! ;-)
112. At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances, Alexander McCall Smith — Third in the Portuguese Irregular Verbs trilogy, which I finished mostly out of stubbornness. I liked this final volume better than the second—the trip to Cambridge included some amusing observations about the English—but it was still rather blah. All in all, the whole series could be said to be slight in length and even slighter in content.
113. There Will Never Be Another You, Carolyn See — I'm always eager to read books about L.A., but they almost always disappoint me. (None of them really capture my L.A.—though oddly, I feel that Raymond Chandler's world occasionally intersects with mine. Also, the movie Blade Runner.) See's latest novel unfortunately continued the trend. It takes place is a universe that's supposed to be only slightly different from ours, in which national security after 9/11 has been amped up even more than it really was. Unfortunately, the difference feels if anything too slight—I'm not sure I would have realized it was an AU at all if I hadn't been told by the cover copy. None of the rest of the novel really comes together, either; it follows several interconnected characters, all of whom have reason to spend time at the UCLA medical center. Edith is a hospital volunteer whose husband died of a prolonged illness the day before the World Trade Center attacks; her son Phil is a dermatologist; Andrea and OmgGuyWhoseNameI'veAlreadyForgotten both have family members who are ill. All of these characters are fairly unpleasant, and they all resolve their worries about family and death in ways that feel oddly unrealistic. I finished this novel feeling like I must have missed something, but I talked to my mom about it this weekend, and though she loves See's Golden Days, she felt much the same way. Okay, so back to my original assessment: This doesn't really work. Wherever it was going, it didn't get there.
114. Cotton, Christopher Wilson — The short 'n' sweet description of this book that I've seen favored by various web sites, etc., is "The story of Lee Cotton, who starts life as a black boy and ends it as a white woman." Besides pretty much begging for several bad Michael Jackson jokes to be made, this summary isn't quite accurate; there is rather a lot of culture and genderswapping (bwee!) in this book, but it's all more complicated than a single sentence summary can convey. Which is great—hurrah for not making it easy, which Wilson certainly doesn't. Lee has to struggle with each transformation, and there is lots of interesting stuff about identity, as well as some fun explorations of '50s, '60s, and '70s America. However, there are also about 50,000 loose threads left dangling at the book's end, with the last few chapters choosing to add more bwah?-worthy material rather than wrap up what was already on the table. (That's kind of a mixed metaphor—unless you consider that the threads are what's being used to wrap the overall package of the plot—which is spread out on the table! Yes. *nods vigorously and unconvincingly*) So ANYWAY—while individual sections of this novel are quite compelling and enjoyable wacky, it really fails to come together.
115. Small World, David Lodge — Sequel to Changing Places, this book follows the same characters—and many, many more—as they travel the world for a series of academic conferences. There is much amusement to be had in tracking the ways the various characters meet up (and often, hook up), and the whole thing is zany and hilarious and lots of fun, if a little less satisfying than Places. Note: the cover of the 1984 British Penguin edition has an illustration of a bare-breasted woman bound by chains to the 'W' in World; this will make you incredibly popular with strange men who sit down next to you on the bus.
116. The Transitive Vampire, Karen Elizabeth Gordon — Gothic-themed grammar guide, read in preparation for the copy test I have to take later today. *gulp* The sample sentences in this book are certainly more diverting than the ones you were likely to have studied in school (for the five minutes the teacher bothered with grammar, if your schooling was anything like mine). For example, demonstrating subject-verb agreement, Gordon gives us: "Gawking out of the corner of his eye was a man who adored stevedores. Beneath the honeysuckle were the caresses he had longed for being given to another man." Fun! However, I'm not sure how this book or any other I have read has really helped me with my grammar. Now, this very well may be a problem of mine, but for someone who has (I like to think) a fairly good grasp of the English language, I have never been able to get much use out of this type of book. They either seem to say things that are incredibly obvious ("I can't hardly stand spinach" = a bad sentence), needlessly confusing ("this is known as a past present participle hatchback gerund—with or without a twist"), or just plain bullheaded WRONG ("no sentence fragments! EVER! And don't start sentences with 'and' or 'but'! ...Ooops."). Do I have trouble actually getting anything from grammar guides because in America the bare bones of proper grammar are actually taught so long after the language has actually been learned? I feel like I've picked up most of everything I know by doing, by actually writing and reading; it's all incredibly instinctive. I don't think this makes me any less of a writer; in fact, writers are almost supposed to do crazy shit that their editors can later correct. (Of course, in my little fantasy here, my editor is Max Perkins.) However, as someone who kind of needs to make a living editing other people for a while, the fact that I don't actually know the rules (I'm just instinctively aware of them) makes me very, very nervous. Which I guess makes The Transitive Vampire an appropriate (if not especially reassuring) guide; its subtitle is A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. Yup, that's me! *whimpers*
Total Books: 116
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-21 05:24 pm (UTC)My absolute favorite of his, though, is Paradise News. Highly recommended. Therapy is huge fun, too, but my gosh, I can't tell you how often I've read PN.
I'm making a list of your recommendations; some day I'll catch up! Thank you for posting these.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-21 06:17 pm (UTC)I am so very much looking forward to reading more David Lodge. I have a copy of Nice Work, and have put Therapy and Paradise News on my BookMooch wishlist. *fingers crossed*
I'm glad my recommendations are of use! I'm enjoying writing them. =)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-21 06:46 pm (UTC)My personal favourite Lodge is one of his early ones, How Far Can You Go?, but I suspect that's because of the Catholic content. Other than that, Nice Work is the one I remember best.
"this is known as a past present participle hatchback gerund—with or without a twist"
Oh, I remember that from Latin. Gerunds and gerundives aren't too bad, but when I start trying to remember the difference between past perfect, past imperfect and pluperfect, my brain melts. Just be thankful we don't have the ablative absolute in English...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-21 06:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-24 02:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-21 07:57 pm (UTC)Hmm... the Superman book sounds fun. Might see if I can get hold of that.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-24 02:48 am (UTC)The Superman book is great. I highly recommend it!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-21 08:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-24 02:49 am (UTC)*For definitions of "next" including "some time in the next few months, probably."
(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-25 10:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-24 02:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-24 02:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-05-24 03:38 am (UTC)